


I will be your remedy

by AgreedEquation



Category: Cricket RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 12:20:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5626423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgreedEquation/pseuds/AgreedEquation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dale and Morné have a quiet night in during the IPL.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I will be your remedy

**Author's Note:**

> Title shamelessly stolen from an Adele song.

**April 21 nd 2015**

Morné and Dale were both a long way away from home and they had been for quite some time. They spent more than a month in Australia and New Zealand for the world cup and almost straight after that, they travelled to India for the IPL. They had long ago accepted that their life was mainly lived on the road. It simply came with the job. But that didn’t take away that very often, they missed their home.

“Do you know what I really miss?” Morné asked, wistfully staring out in front of him. The Kolkata Knight Riders would be playing against the Sunrisers Hyderabad the next day and he had met up with Dale in Dale’s hotel room. They were both sitting on the large bed in the middle of the room with their backs against the headboard, their shoulders and legs touching.

“Let me guess: the food.” Dale laughed and patted his friend’s knee. Morné was a man of simple pleasures. He liked his food more than anything else, so if you wanted to put a smile on his face, all you had to do was give him something to eat.

“Don’t you? Nothing beats a nice braai.” Morné said, his mouth already watering at the thought of sizzling meat on the braai in his garden. “If I could have one now, I’d throw on some boerewors and some lamb chops. Some ribs as well.”

“Don’t forget the braaibroodjies.” Dale missed South Africa just as much as Morné did. Not necessarily the food (although he would kill for a proper braaibroodjie right now), but the people, his dogs and his home. He missed his boat and going on fishing trips. He missed seeing the Tafelberg standing proud next to the city, as if it was guarding it. He missed the beaches and going for a surf in the early morning. He missed _South Africa_. But he had Morné for the time being, though and that was more than enough to put a smile on his face and make him forget that he was in a foreign country, surrounded by people he hardly knew. Morné was a real friend, a real _South African_ friend; Morné was a little bit of home.

“I would never forget the braaibroodjies.”

Dale smiled and shook his head. “You wouldn’t.” He got up and started searching his bag. “I’m going to take a shower and then head to bed. You staying?” he asked, sending Morné a hopeful look. He wanted to keep Morné around for as long as he could, before they would both move on to another city. They wouldn’t see each other again for two weeks.

“If you’ll have me,” Morné replied, happy with Dale’s suggestion. He didn’t want to go back to his empty room.

“That’s a yes then.” Dale took a fresh pair of boxers and a clean shirt from his bag and headed towards the bathroom. “Make yourself comfortable, I’ll be back in no time, clean as a whistle.”

“You better be. I’m not sharing a bed with you if you smell.”

About half an hour later, Dale re-emerged from the bathroom, wearing just his boxers and a tattered old t-shirt. Morné had changed into his pajamas and had settled on the bed. A couple of plates with food on them were scattered all over the bed and Morné was holding one too. “Is that spaghetti you’re eating?” Dale asked, raising an eyebrow. Where the hell did all of that even come from all of the sudden?

“Got hungry from thinking about food, so I ordered some room service. I got you something as well.” Morné took a plate from the bedside table and placed it next to him. On the plate was a grilled cheese sandwich. “Not exactly a braaibroodjie, but it comes close.”

“You’re the best, Morné.” Dale took the plate and made room for himself to sit down next to his friend. He looked at the grilled sandwich and burst out into a fit of laughter. _Someone_ had already taken a bite from it.

Morné tried his best to look innocent. “It smelled so nice, I just wanted to taste it. You can have some of my food, if you want,” he added, gesturing to the other plates on the bed. Morné hadn’t held back on his order. Beside the spaghetti he was eating and the grilled sandwich for Dale there were also chicken wings, some fruit, a cheeseburger and samosas. “Some. Not everything.”

-

“I’m glad you came over,” Dale told Morné, staring up at the ceiling. The food had been eaten and the empty plates were now sitting on one of the bedside tables, completely forgotten. Both men were lying on their backs, side by side, not yet wanting to go to sleep, but too lazy to actually do something. “It’s been a few weeks.”

“Since the world cup,” Morné said and then they fell silent for a few minutes, both of them thinking of that day when their journey in the world cup had ended.

“Do you think about it a lot?” Dale asked, turning his head so he was looking at Morné. Their loss against New Zealand in the semi-final had been on his mind quite a lot. He knew no one blamed him for the loss, no one but himself.

Morné shrugged his shoulders in response. “Sometimes. You?”

“All the time. I keep on thinking of things I could have done differently,” Dale confessed. It was the first time he was talking about that day. Up until now he’d been arguing with just himself about what he could’ve done differently, if he could have done something at all. People had tried talking to him, but to no avail, it was something he didn’t want to discuss. But Morné was different, he knew Dale better than anyone else and Dale knew he wouldn’t judge him or mock him.

Morné edged closer to Dale and rested his hand on the other man’s stomach. “It wasn’t your fault, Dale. They were better than us and they won. That’s how it works. Please stop blaming yourself. I hate to see you hurting like that.”

“I try to. But some days I wish I could just pack all my things and run away from everything.”

Morné had the reputation of being the funny one in the team, but what most people didn’t know was that he had a heart of gold and that he was the most reliable and loyal person imaginable.

“Would you run away with me if I asked you to?” Dale wasn’t too sure where that question had come from, but he had asked it now and there was no taking it back.

“That would be crazy,” Morné answered, absent-mindedly stroking Dale’s stomach. “But I would.” He moved his hand up, to Dale’s chest and got even closer to him. “In a heartbeat.” He stretched his neck, making their lips touch in a chaste kiss. When he pulled back from the kiss, he gave Dale an uncertain look, not sure that what he had done had been the right thing.

“That’s new,” Dale stated and bit his lip. He never really thought of Morné of something more as a friend. Sure, they had always been close. They had started sharing a bed a while ago, after they discovered that they slept better in each other’s company then they did alone, they knew each other’s deepest secrets and Dale would always be there to get Morné out of trouble when one of his pranks had gone wrong. But the kiss hadn’t felt weird or wrong, it had felt nice and Dale wouldn’t mind having another go at it. Maybe this was something they had been heading towards for a long time, without really knowing.

“Do you like new things?” Morné asked, starting to feel a bit nervous. When he had decided to come over to Dale’s room, he hadn’t planned for this to happen, but now that it _had_ happened, he hoped that Dale liked it as much as he did.

“I liked _that_ new thing.” Dale put his hand on the back of Morné’s head and pulled him closer again. The second kiss lasted longer and had more passion in it as both men decided that this was something they both wanted.

They pulled apart once more and Dale rested his head on Morné’s chest.

“How about,” Morné started, wrapping his arms around Dale’s waist. “Instead of running away, we go on a quiet fishing trip after the IPL?”

“Sounds appealing. You and me on a little boat, away from everything and no expectations to live up to.”

“I will expect you to catch some fish,” Morné pointed out with a smile. He hadn’t been this comfortable and content in ages. “I also expect that you will pack us a really nice lunch.”

Dale laughed and playfully hit Morné’s arm. “You and your food. You’re a medical wonder. No one else in the world can eat as much as you do and still be as thin as a toothpick.”

“Nah.” Morné tightened his grip on Dale and kissed the top of his head. “I’m magical.”

Dale smiled brightly and could do nothing but agree with that statement. “You are.”

**Author's Note:**

> Trying out a new pairing, hope you like it!
> 
> Dankjewel knockmeforsix, for letting me ramble to you about these two lovelies <3


End file.
